NOSFERATU

This album was extremely sought after (very small pressing) until its first Cd reissue on the great Ohrwalsch label, when the price came down, mostly due to the unexceptional nature of the music. What we have here is a fairly common (if not basic at times) organ-driven hard rock, as the group present itself as a standard prog quartet plus a wind player (who does not get enough exposure) and a singer. A rather rough kind of psych-proto-prog, with only the odd sax and flute to bring in a much-needed sophistication, this rather too bad for a sextet..

Don't get me wrong, there are some finer moments bound to please all progheads (most notably on the 10-min+ Willie The Fox), but on the whole, the album stays a bit rough, but this is probably a bit by design, since there are a few psych jams between the guitar and the sax/flute. In terms of ambiances, the music ranges from the rough, gloomy and sombre to the wild and enthusiastic, almost enthralling. But lengthy tracks like Found My Home are only partially successful.

Not easy to pinpoint obvious sonic references, but one may point to Tomorrow's Gift. Clearly the best musician is saxist/flautist Felke and as far as I know, he's the only one that went on to another group (Epsilon which seemed content to play 50's RnR) after Nosferatu's demise. But if you are into organ-driven hard rock, you can safely go for this one, you should enjoy it lots.